SnapVillage

SnapVillage is an online, royalty free, microstock photography provider offering creative content, such as photography and vector images on both subscription and micropayment business models. SnapVillage is owned by Corbis Corporation - a buyer/seller of high-quality photography and film footage and related rights, based in Seattle, Washington. SnapVillage launched in July 2006 and differs from many microstock players such as istockphoto in that it is not necessary to purchase credits nor are prices varied depending on the resolution of the image. SnapVillage represents a significant evolution for Corbis since its founding by Bill Gates in 1989. Corbis was started by Gates in the belief that people would someday decorate their homes with a revolving display of digital artwork using digital frames. As part of this effort, Corbis amassed one of the most significant (and valuable) image collections in the world. Among its noted acquisitions were the 11 million piece Bettmann Archive, acquired in 1995 and the Sygma collection in France (1999).

SnapVillage is indicative of an industry wide shift from Rights Managed images to lower cost microstock, probably fueled in large part by the proliferation of digital cameras as well as broadband internet. Many in the industry point to a steady decline in the traditional rights managed business dominated by Getty Images and Corbis and suggest that Corbis was actually late to respond to the rapid growth of microstock. While SnapVillage wasn't among the first players to come on the scene, they are of still of some interest to photographers due to their parent company and their presumed access to growth capital.

Purchasing and Use

SnapVillage has a unique model in that higher resolution images (or more complex vector images) cost the same price as the lower resolution versions. The company does not require the use of "credit packs" as would be the case on many of the larger stock photography sites such as Fotolia or [http://www.dreamstime.com Dreamstime] . SnapVillage introduced this concept as a method to simplify what was viewed as an increasingly complicated method of shopping for lower cost imagery. Another unusual feature of the site is that image contributors set their own prices for their images. Photographers choose to set prices from $1 - $50 and further decide whether or not their images would be available for purchase on any of the available subscription plans. Customers may purchase images singly, or they may download images via subscription plans that offer bulk download options for 1 week, 1 month, 3 month, 6 month and 1 year timeframes. There are some limitations that apply to each subscription package as is the case with other leading microstock vendors.

History and Community

SnapVillage has been both praised by photographers for their ability to set their own prices and occasionally chided by those same constituents for lack of bulk upload and editing tools. There has been some positive sentiment around the interesting nature of certain images in the library but criticism that there is not yet enough images in the system. SnapVillage is estimated to have approximately 300,000 images for sale. iStockphoto advertises a selection of approximately three million images. Since SnapVillage is not an independent company, many in the industry feel that the company has a chance to succeed (in spite of its shortcomings) given backing from its parent company who presumably understand the strategic importance of microstock to its core business. The SnapVillage platform and the development team are thought to be entirely separate from the rest of the Corbis organization and the company has not yet announced specific plans for possible integration between the two companies. Additionally, there has been no public discussion of integrating products from Veer - the [http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003668733 network Corbis purchased in November 2007] .